I was wondering about the consequences of gifting a rental property to my wife. Will the capital gains tax (CGT) transfer with the gift, or if the property is not rented after the transfer, is the CGT not applicable any longer? 

Arthur Weller replies:  

When you transfer to your wife, this is a ‘no gain, no loss’ transfer (see HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual at CG22200), and there is no CGT to pay. Your wife will assume the base cost that you had until now, so if you paid £X originally for the property, that will now be deemed to be the price your wife paid for the property when she sells the property to someone else in the future.